Printing-telegraph



2 SheetsSheet I;

(No Model.)

AC]?! JOHNSON. V PRINTING TELEGRAPH- I $10,295,644. Patented Mar. 25,1884.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2. A. 1?. JOHNSON.

- PRINTING TELEGRAPH.

(No Model.)

No. 295,644. Patented Mar. 25, 1884;

n. Pain; PIlo Nirnn ALBERT F. JOHNSON, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

PRINTING-TELEGRAPH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 295,644, dated March1884.

ToaZZ whom it. may concern: A

Be it known that I, ALBERT F. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in AutomaticPrinting-Telegraphs; andI hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, 'on two sheets, which form a part of thisspecification.

This inventionrelates to improvements in automatic printing-telegraphs,and is adapted to be used in connection with a receiving and printinginstrument having. a separate mag; net and armature printing-lever foreach letter or character-used in sending messages. It is more especiallydesigned to be used in connection with a receiving-instrument for whichLetters Patent of the United States No. 268,237 were granted to myselfand Frank B. Johnson, as joint inventors, on the 28th of N ovember,1882; and the main object of my prescut invention is to obviate thenecessity for using a multiplicity of line-wires, which are bothinconvenient and expensive, and to operate a receiving and printinginstrument of the above description by the use of one line- 'wire only.V The invention consists, first, ;in improved means for connecting theseveral letter keys on the key-board at the sending-station and theseveral printing-magnets on the receivinginstrument at thereceiving-station with one general line-wire, instead of employing aseparate line-wire foneach letter; and, secondly, in improved means forequalizing the movements of the mechanisms at the sending-station andreceiving-station, so that they shall act in perfect unison; and itfurther consists in certain novel constructions and combina-= tions ofparts, all of which are hereinafter particularly described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1, Sheet 1, represents a plan viewof my improved key-board; Fig. 2, Sheet 1, a sectional elevation of thesame, together with the equalizing mechanism above referred to, and asectional elevation ofthe receiving-instrument;

- Fig. 3, Sheet 2, a diagram showing the electric circuits between theseveral instruments ing messages-which said magnets have each alever-armature, b, at the end of which the printing-types c are secured,and also with an inking-ribbon, (Z, and appliances for holding a stripor fillet, 6, upon which the messages are printed, and appliances forfeeding forward the said strip to receive the printing. It is alsoprovided with a separate U--magnet, a,

and with a switch, f, the respective purposes of which will presently bedescribed.

Further description of said receiving-in strument is not deemednecessary, as the construction of the same does not form part of mypresent invention, and said construction is fully described in thePatent No. 268,237, above mentioned. One of such receivers, or areceiver having a separate magnet ,to print each particular letter orcharacter, is connected with the key-board at each station, and isprovided with'appliances for throwing it out of circuit when a messageis to be sent from the key-board with which it is connected,

and into circuit therewith when a message is to be received and printed.

A is a similar receiving and printing instrument at the sendingstation.

It Will be understood that messages may be received at or sent fromeither station, and that I designate the one as the sending-sta tion andthe other as the receiving-station merely for convenience in describingmy invention.

B and B represent my improvedkey-boards, one of which is located. ateach station, and both of which are constructed substantially asfollows, viz:

i. 9 represents a series of knobs or keys, each representing aparticular letter or character.

h is the bedplate, which is made of nonconducting material.

it are metallic plates let into the bed-plate h at regular intervals,one under each key,

with which said plates the metallic stems of the keys 9 respectivelymake contact when the said knobs are pressed. The keys 9 are fitted onan annular plate, j, above the plate h, the said plates h and 9' beingattached to each other by any suitable means, (as by posts b,)-butinsulated from each other; and passing up through the center of'theplate h is a spindle, k, upon which is secured, immediately above theplate h, a needle, I, to the outer end,v of which is fitted a smallroller, on, (or a spring,ifpreierred,) which makes contact with. theplates 2' successively when the needlel is revolved.

n is a metal plate, the inner end of which is pierced to receive theupper end of the spindle 70, with which it makes metallic contact, andto its outer end the line-wire G is connected.

To the outer end of each of the plates 13 is attached a wire, 0, whichconnects it with the magnet representing the same letter on thereceiving-instrument at the same station. The spindle is, carrying theneedle 1, is revolved by a clock-work mechanism, D, which may be ofsuitable construction and driven by a spring or a weight. The train ofgearing is not shown in the drawings, as it is not deemed necessary soto do; but I may state that the last wheel, r, of the train, being thewheel which carries the spindle k and needle Z, is caused to make fromtwo hundred to three hundred revolu'' tions per minute. The plate a isinsulated from the plate j, and the upper partof the spindle k, whichcarries the needle, is insulated from the lower part to prevent thecurrent passing into the clock-work. This insulation of the spindlemaybe accomplished by the device shown in Fig. 2, in which 8 is a thimbleof rubber or other non-conducting material inserted into the upper endof the lower part of the spindle is, and into this thimble the upperpart of the spindle, which carries the needle, is inserted byscrew-threads or otherwise, so that the two parts of the spindle willrevolve in unison.

In the drawings the clock-work is represented as being immediatelyunderneath the key-board, forming a pedestal for the same, withmiter-wheels ttone upon the shaft of the last wheel of the train and theother upon thespindle 7c-to change the motion from vertical tohorizontal; but the relative arrangement may be changed, as preferred,by any located immediately underneath the same, so that whenever thesaid armature-lever v is at tracted by the magnet y the clock -work isset in motion, and when the attraction ceases the said lever is liftedby a spring, 2, secured to a plate, y, attached to the top of the postw, and, coming against the ratchet-tooth it, stops the movement of theclockwork.

An electric circuit is formed betweenthe equalizing mechanisms at thetwo stations, as will presently be described.

The disk to is made of non-conducting material, and a small metal plate,a, is secured upon its face immediatelybetween the ratchettooth u andthe cent-er of the disk, and at each revolution of the disk this 'plateu makes contact simultaneously with two wire arms, 12' and 0 which attheir opposite ends are attached to the frame of the clockwork D, (or

other suitable support,) but are insulated therefrom. A ground-wire, 7havingaswitch, 6, interposed at some convenient'point, is attached tothe arm 12, and a wire, 8, connects v with one pole of the magnet y, theother pole of said magnet being connected with the line-wire O by wire9. One of these inechanisms is connected with the key-board at eachstation, and both are similarly constructed and arranged, as abovedescribed. In the diagram Fig. 3 they are brought out from under theirrespective key-boards for the purpose of clearly showing the circuits.

O is the line-wire, extending from one station to the other, andattached at each end to the respective plates, n, of the key-boards Band B.

0 0 0 are the wires which connect each key with its corresponding magnetat the same station, the key-board and its accompanyingprinting-instrument being placed in any convenient position in relationto each other at each station, and each wire 0, connecting one pole ofthe magnet that prints any particular letter with the plate 2', which isstruck by the key representing said letter, and the other pole of eachmagnet is attached to a copper wire, 0, in the printing-instrument, theends of which said wire are attached to one section of the switch f. Aground-wire is attached to the other section of said switch.

1 is the ground-wire attached to said sect-i011 of the switch f. 1

2 is a wire connecting the insulated plate j with one section of aswitch, 3, the other section of said switch being connected with theground-wire 1.

The operation is as follows When the switches 6 6 are open, thedetent-levers '0 v are engaged with their respective ratchetteeth a a,stopping the clock-works. On closing the switches 6 6 a circuit isformed through the wires 7 7 and 8 8, magnets y y, and line-wire C, sothat the detent-levers '0 c are attracted by their magnets y 3 thusreleasing the two clock-works and revolving the needles Z Z, and bymeans of the plates a a and arms 12 o c c are checked at each revolutionof the disksu a, which latter are thus made to keep time with eachother, and if, from any cause, one of the disks it moves rather morerapidly than the other they will be brought into corresponding-positionat the completion of each revolution, as will presently be described.Supposing a message is to be sent from B to B, the switch f on A isopened to cut off the latter from B, and the switches 3 3 and switch fof A are closed. The key-boards B and B and printing-instrument A arethus brought into circuit with each other whenever a key, is depressed,and the needles Z Z touch the plates i 2', corresponding to such key,and whenever one of said keys 9 is depressed to make contact with itscorrespon ding plate, i, the circuit through the magnets 1 y is brokenas soon as the needle Z makescontact with such plate, and the othercircuit through the plates n at of B and B, along the line-wire O, andthrough the printing-magnet of A corresponding to said plate i isclosed,

and the letter represented by said plate '5 is thereby printed upon thestrip passing through A. The two circuits are thus alternately to cutout the latter, and the switch f of A is closed to bring the latter intocircuit.

I do not confine myself to theexact c'onstruction of the mechanism forequalizing the movements of the needles, as above described, as it isobvious that the same may be changed or modified to effect the sameresults without departing from the principles of my invention.

From the above description it will be understood that the circuitthrough themagnets 3 y is closed only when the arms 12 c in bothmechanisms rest upon their respective plates a", and is broken wheneverone of the said plates passes out of contact with its arms 1) c and whenbroken the springs z cause the detents,

to engage with the ratchetteeth a; and, further, that if the speed ofthe disks has not been exactly equal, whenever one of them is stopped byits detent v, the other will advance until it comes into a correspondingposition. For instance, if the disk a at the sendingstation has traveleda little faster than that at the receiving-station, and itsplate a hasmade contact with its arms 1) c" before such contact has been made onthe instrument at the receiving-station, the circuit through the magnets31 is broken and the armaturedetents c retracted, and the disk a at thesendingstation will thereby be stopped; but the disk at thereceiving-station will, by the force of its clockwork, be carriedforward to complete its revolution,

and at. the completion of its revolution its plate a and arms 1/ 12"being then in contact),

sponding position at the completion of each revolution and beforeanother revolution is commenced.

If necessary, any well-known retarding device-such as a fan-wheel orsimilar retarding device-may be employed to break the force of theconcussion between the ratchet-teethu andthe detents c.

What I claim as my invention is v 1. In combination with a telegraphreceivinginstrument in which each printing-type is actuatedindependently of the others, the keyboards B B, the latter located atthe receivingstation and the former at the sending-station, andconnected with each other bya line wire, 0, the said keyboards beingconstructed substantially as described, and having needles Z, thatrotate synchronously with each other, and each provided with a series ofkeys, g,

and corresponding circuit-closing plates, z,

(one for each letter or character,) radially arranged, and traversed bya revolving needle,

Z, driven by clock-work mechanism, which closes an electric circuitwhenever it makes contact with one of said plates, said key-board Bhaving its plates '5 connected, respectively, with the severalprinting-magnets which print the letters represented by said plates 2,the whole being arranged, substantially as de scribed, with ground andbattery wires forming properly-arranged electric circuits,whereby anelectric impulse is transmitted along said line-wire O at each contactof any of the keys 9 with their corresponding plates, 11, at thesending-station to the corresponding plate, 6, at the receivingstation,and from the latter to the corresponding magnet on theprintinginstrument to print the,letter, as described.

2. In combination with the key-boards B and B, constructed substantiallyas described, the equalizing mechanisms connected therewith, one of saidmechanisms being located at the sending-station and the other at thereceiving-station, and each consisting of the following parts, namely: arevolving disk, at, provided with an insulated plate, a", and aratchet-tooth, a, the magnet y, the pivoted armature-lever't, forming adetent,,the contact-arms o 0 and the spindle k, carrying the needle I,said mechanisms being provided with ground and battery connections,substantially as described, and being operated in .connection with saidkey-boards through the medium of electricimpulses sent over theline-wire O, as and for-the purpose set forth.

3. The keyboard B, herein described, com- 5 printing-magnet, aninsulated annular plate, j,

posed of the following parts, namely: a series of keys g, eachrepresenting aparticular letter, and a corresponding series of insulatedcontactplates, 2', adapted to be connected each With a carrying aground-wire, and insulated platen, carrying a line-Wire, and a revolvingneedle, Z, mounted upon a spindle, 7c, driven by cl0ck- Work andarranged tomake metallic contact with the plates 7;, the Whole beingconstructed IO substantially as described, to operate/as and for thepurpose set forth.

ALBERT F. JOHNSON.

WVitnesses:

J OI-IN S. THORNTON, M. H. TOPPING.

